I once traced the 'St James Hospital' version of this song to St James Palace in London, which was built on the site of a Leper Charity hospital run by nuns by decree for the benefit of a specified number of London's poor
I was left with the conclusion that the link between this and 'The Unfortunate Rake' was pretty convincing
Will try to dig out my notes for it.
TOM LENIHAN'S VERSION with my notes can be accessed here

Dominic's song (above) is gradually coming back to me

Next verse
In the cold, hard wintertime,
We painters bear a cross,
Stuck up like Christ, between two thieves,
The foreman and the boss

You can't beat the old wans, can you?
Jim Carroll